#7 Tennessee 71, #4 Kentucky
March 2, 2019 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Thompson-Boling Arena
Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
On not having Reid Travis having an impact on today’s game:
“It wasn’t that, they beat us. There are no excuses. We got beat every which way. Our young kids played like freshmen. They played like a deer in the headlights. The play where they walked and no call, and P.J. got his second foul and I couldn’t play him in the first half. That was a huge play. I’m not saying the call had anything to do with it, but that play changed how we had to play in the first half without Reid.”
On Jordan Bone’s play today:
“He played great. He ran downhill on us. We were trying to run the same stuff and get our guy to run down hill. We didn’t quite accomplish it. He also made runners. Our bigs were getting out of the way too fast. They didn’t trust the people behind them. When you are playing that kind of basketball, the big has to stay and trust someone behind him is going to help him. They ducked out and Bone went down and shot a lot of layups.”
On the possibility of his team regressing:
“No, this is one game. They have not lost here in two years. For us to win without Reid, we were going to have to play one of our best games in the past 10 years. As soon as I saw how it started and when P.J. got his second foul, I was like, ‘okay, how do I make this close.’ I was angry because it was a 14-point game and we had three possessions. We had a chance to get the lead down to seven or eight. There was only one guy thinking we could get it down to seven or eight. Me. I asked them way they would think that way. Turnovers, P.J. threw one in the seats. Tennessee deserves this. It was a great win on national television. It’s amazing, now they will say that we aren’t that good. When we beat they, they said they weren’t that good. When they beat us on their court where they haven’t lost in two years, now we aren’t that good. This is college basketball. When you are playing freshman and sophomores, you have games like this. These kids are not machines. They are not robots. Sometimes, they play bad and sometimes the other team is more inspired to play and they beat you.”
On worrying about this loss costing his team a No. 1 seed:
“No, because other teams have lost, and they have moved up in the poll.”
Freshman Guard Immanuel Quickley
On the difficulty of guarding Jordan Bone:
“He is a really good guard. He is fast and quick. He was able to get to his spots. He is experienced too. He knew where to be on the floor and how to get his teammates the ball. He really led his guys today.”
On Tennessee’s play today:
“Like I said, there are no excuses, but I’m sure they had revenge on their mind. I think any team that plays us is going to be ready to play us, just because we are Kentucky. We are always going to have that target on our back. We just really didn’t match their energy today.”
Sophomore Forward Nick Richards
On the game today:
“We just didn’t bring energy from the jump. They brought more energy than us. We didn’t execute our offense and our defense wasn’t how it usually is. We just weren’t ourselves today. It was a bad game.”
On each team possibly seeing each other again this season:
“We will definitely see them again. Obviously we will end up seeing each other in the SEC tournament. It will be a good battle. The rivalry is great. We are going to see them again soon.”
Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes
Opening Statement:
“I just want to say the crowd was tremendous today. When we went and played there, I thought their atmosphere was tremendous and coming back here today, I thought ours was just electric. I really appreciate that from our crowd. From the beginning, I thought our defense was really good. We knew we had to be better intensity wise, and our guys really did a good job. Defensively, it was something we should be proud of. Offensively, there were some guys that struggled. I thought we really stayed in the game defensively and we made plays where we had to.”
On Jordan Bone’s performance:
“He logged a lot of minutes in December, and I think it helped him. He is playing more than 10 minutes a game than he was a year ago, but I do think those minutes were really valuable to him. Early in December, I thought he got more and more confident and started to understand more and more what a point guard had to do. You can just tell that he did some things on his own today when he called some things and a real feel for their teammates. He did a good job from our stand point on just orchestrating the game.”
On what was different with Bone compared to two weeks ago in Kentucky:
“Defensively, I wasn’t pleased with anybody (at Kentucky). We were just telling our guys to not be emotional but be more intense because they beat us every way you can be beaten. We just felt like we had to be really locked in. I think I would say that with every guy in this difference. They were more focused on what had to be done and that is not to take anything away from Kentucky, because they are an outstanding team. They are hard to score against. I thought it was a real tough defensive battle. It might have been the best we have been, but we didn’t make enough shots.”
On Grant Williams’ performance:
“I thought we had to get him moving more. Let him roll into the post. But they are a great team and they made great adjustments. I thought he stayed with it and was patient for the most part. Defensively, obviously P.J. Washington is a terrific player and I felt like we worked hard to limit space on him. And foul trouble changes everything. We know that. We were concerned about that in the start of the second half. Grant picked up his second foul and in the next four minutes, if he picked up his third foul it could change the whole complacent of the whole game. So we let him sit for a while and we all appreciate the minutes that John Fulkerson and Derrick Walker. We probably would’ve played more zone if Kyle Alexander wouldn’t have fouled out. But Grant was patient and stayed with it. Defensively, it was much better today.
On how Reid Travis not playing impacted the game:
“I think he is a terrific player. I don’t think you can take anything away from it. I thought he was a big factor in the first game. His defense and physicality is there. But you go back to Washington being terrific out there. I thought everybody out there was effective. But there is no doubt that Reid’s presence gives them a different physicality. No question about that.”
On if he can think of a time where two games with the same teams have been so drastically different in outcomes:
“That’s a good question. I don’t know if I have seen that, I would have to really think about it. I thought both atmospheres were just electric. You look at it, again, from our standpoint. We played better here, and I’m sure John Calipari would say the same thing. They play better there. They will go back and it will make them better. They will get better, because we have gotten better defensively since the Kentucky game in Rupp Arena. We came back and realized that we had to get better defensively. I thought we came up with our best defensive game against Ole Miss. Today, I thought we were really good defensively.”
On how the team can replicate the defensive effort consistently:
“This time, you would like to think you can do it. You like to think you guys understand it. We’re an older group of guys now. We had to add a few things here and there, defensively. An older group of guys should be able to do that. You would like to think if they were as focused as they needed to be, it is going to take that kind of effort every night.”
On Coach Calipari saying that the home team has been the aggressor in the two matchups:
“I would agree with that. There’s no doubt that is the case. We were much more aggressive in a lot of areas. We settled a little bit offensively to start the game. We were a little bit over-emotional in the first half in terms of our shot selection. Two or three times we went up and had to drop the ball off and almost got it blocked. Those guys we were just too impatient. In the second half, I thought we came out much better. We put them on the free throw line too much in the second half. I would agree that John is right about that. We were definitely a much more aggressive team here than we were in Rupp Arena.”
On losing his voice:
“I’ve had it for three days, I don’t know what it is. I don’t feel sick at all. I just lost my voice. The referees probably appreciated it today.”
On how important John Fulkerson and Derrick Walker’s minutes were against Kentucky:
“Really important. We had a really short, crisp practice yesterday. Those guys were really locked into it. When you look at those two guys, we thought they could really bring some physicality in the second half because we knew they were going to try to establish Washington. We didn’t want Kyle to pick up that quick foul. Derrick, I thought defensively, did what we asked him to do. Fulky is a guy that is not quite as strong, but he tries to do it a different way. Offensively, he gives us another guy that can really put the ball in the basket.”
Tennessee Forward Grant Williams
On the impact of home advantage:
“We have a great fan base, and they give us the energy that we need to do our job and to execute. To have 21,000 people to support you in Thompson-Boling Arena, it’s great. Then you have Coach Barnes who keeps you level-headed.”
On if he expects to play Kentucky in Nashville:
“It would be fun if there was a rematch. You expect to play guys like that in Nashville and the tournament. You never know when we’ll see them again. I feel like we will, and again, it’ll be another crazy environment. If you’re a competitor, you love to play in it. You’re going to be excited, you’re going to be ready to go, and just like last year, we played them three times. Hopefully, it’s the same this year.”
On how Kentucky feels right now based on how Tennessee felt when they lost to Kentucky in Lexington:
“We were feeling differently because we felt like we didn’t really compete. I feel like for them they really tried to be aggressive. Maybe they have a little bit of doubt because some shots didn’t go in, but I think they really competed. For us, we were playing selfishly. I wouldn’t say they played that way.”
Tennessee Guard Jordan Bowden
On atmosphere:
“It was one of my favorite ones today. It was a great atmosphere, and all credit goes to our student body and our fan base.”
On Bone’s performance:
“Bone is amazing. He went 5-of-5 from three. He said I’m the best shooter in the country, but I think he is the best shooter in the country. Seeing Bone attack all the time is really fun.”
On having Allan Houston around:
“It was pretty cool. That was my first time actually meeting him, and he had kind words for us. We have things to take from it, and I’m glad to see him back here today.”
